


City of Stars

by EmpyrealElysium



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 14:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10664952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpyrealElysium/pseuds/EmpyrealElysium
Summary: That cluster of lights was brighter than any star tonight.





	City of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Brook might be OOC. I don't really watch the anime.

It was astonishing how things can appear relative to a person’s perception. 

 

Over an hour ago, on a small island—small establishments, small businesses, nothing big but enough to thrive on — where the Strawhats docked in, was another tiresome run-in with the Marines. A pile of foot soldiers, nothing to be considered as an actual threat. Careless yet a frugal distribution of soldiers, since the island — she can’t even remember it’s name — was barely even in the map. Unremarkable pawns to place at an unremarkable place for courtesy’s sake. Then suddenly a crew of notorious pirates with millions of Berries placed on their heads comes along, so one could only guess what kind of catastrophe took place. 

They were lucky the Strawhats couldn’t be bothered to pick an actual fight. They left some beaten but alive soldiers around, and brought home large bags of supplies that would last them for a few months. Or until Luffy gobbles them all up. 

An hour later, under an indigo sky bespeckled with a few stars in an uncharted place in the map, she was out by the deck, gazing at a mass of land where a city of flickering lights was becoming smaller as the ship sailed further. The sea around it was a haunting abyss, so thick that it swallowed the reflection of the lights from the land.

She inhaled the salty breeze, and imagined that the air was also colored with those warm lights. A familiar presence made itself known beside her. The smile, which was already present on her face, grew an inch at the feeling of calm her friend brought with him. 

 

“Hello, milady.”

 

“Hey there, king.” The newcomer laughed at the nickname. 

 

“Only in the stage, my dear.”

 

Her calm smile turned to a cheeky grin, and she turned to face the colorful skeleton who stood beside her.

 

“But some pretentious poet did say: The world is a stage,” she argued playfully. 

 

The infamous “yo-ho-ho” (she found it really odd) rung from his skeletal mouth at her response, and she couldn’t help but chuckle with him. His laughter was infectious, despite its peculiarity. 

 

“Don’t spoil me, dear friend. I might get used to it!” His attention turned to his left hand—carpals? Was that even correct?— where she noticed him holding a guitar case. A warm smile graced her face as she watched Brook kneel and place the case on the floor, open it, and reveal the instrument it held. The acoustic guitar was glossy and cared for, yet a barely noticeable scratch near the sound hole, and the worn copper strings that have been replaced numerous times resting on fingerboard claimed that the instrument had played and created a large number of songs in its time, under the fingers of a talented musician. She should know. She had the honor playing the instrument herself after several gigs with Brook. 

How many has it been? She wondered. 

Brook stood up, holding the guitar, as if about to play. He turned his eyeless gaze to her. 

In the darkness of the night and the empty sea, it was slightly discomforting to have those ever empty yet soulful sockets directed at her. Not that she ever told him that. 

 

“I have a feeling that our thirty-first jamming would be something special,” Brook said. Wow, he was keeping count. And how timely it was for him to mention it, too. 

 

“How can you say so?” she asked, turning her body to him and leaning her hip against the railing. 

 

“You were looking contemplative.”

 

“And?”

 

“And when you do that, you always have the most wonderful things to sing.”

 

She felt flattered, reflected by the sheepish smile that betrayed her face. Brook noticed, and while his facial expressions were restricted, she didn’t miss the endeared look that softened his features. Her heart warmed at that. Despite being a sentient, mobile skeleton with no ounce of flesh or innards left, Brook has a bigger heart that anyone else she knew in the crew. Except for Luffy, of course. The size of his heart could rival the size of his stomach. Figuratively. 

 

“Ready when you are, dearest.”

 

It was her turn to chuckle at the nickname. He had gotten to calling her those the more she had these sessions with him. The time when it all began, she didn’t know, but she recalled the same guitar, a familiar folk tune being played, and her humming along as she walked past a skeleton on the deck, until she began singing in words that were not canon to the song. And then a hearty “yo-ho-ho” disrupted her from her little tryst, and after that… well, apparently she knew most of how it began. Memories of more voiceless instrumentals that was all white noise to her came up, until she remembered how Brook called her attention, beckoned her over, and just played, a silent prompt that bade her to sing whatever was on top of her head. Fourteen sessions of impromptu compositions —silly, sad, deep, or just chronicling the idiosyncrasies of the crew — until she was able to touch his guitar, and sixteen more followed that led them to where they were now. 

 

And now, what shall be the thirty-first?

 

She turned her attention to the scene beyond the ship. Her arms found solace on the railings as she observed the coalescing darkness of the night sky and the deep sea. It was like a blanket of indigo paper, tunneling into the cluster of lights that rested on the hidden horizon. It was a city brighter than any star tonight, and as she looked at it, it appeared to grow brighter, despite the ever forward movement of the ship. It kept alight even in this unremarkable place in the map, with its unremarkable people and unremarkable guards stationed in it. 

 

It was _remarkable_ , and only she could see for how it truly is. _A city of stars shining just for me._

 

Brook already played the first chord as she sung the first line of the song for tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> Hahaha. First fanfic posted here in a while. Haha. Ha.
> 
> The song is, obviously, "City of Stars" from La La Land. Let's assume you composed it out of the blue. 
> 
> Just need to get this thought out of my system.


End file.
